


Pocket Monsters Among Men

by NitroIndigo



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, Anthology, Gen, Non-Chronological, Slow Burn, Species Swap, Talking Pokemon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 18:18:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18609931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NitroIndigo/pseuds/NitroIndigo
Summary: The youngest member of the Amestrian military is a Pikachu.





	Pocket Monsters Among Men

**Author's Note:**

> This started life as a series of asks with Tumblr user strawbebehmod. I haven't figured out how everything in this setting works, so I'd appreciate input.

Edward Elric slouched against the back of a wooden seat far too big for him, glancing absentmindedly at the afternoon sky through the window above, as the clacking sound of the train practically lulled him to sleep.

“What does it feel like?” asked Alphonse, sitting opposite. The suit of armour’s ringing words snapped Ed right back into reality, his long, yellow, black-tipped ears pricking up alertedly.

“Huh… What does what feel like?” asked Ed, now sitting upright.

“Um… If you don’t mind me asking…” Al hesitated. “How... does... it... feel to be inside a Pokéball?” He said the last part of his question quickly.

Ed frowned. He stared at that armour; he knew that _somewhere_ in there was his Pokéball, the proof that he was chained to the military. It was nothing fancy, just a standard-issue red and white one.

The one they used for “easy” monsters.

Ed had only been inside of a Pokéball once, but he remembered it vividly. The endless black void that had stretched in all directions. The persistent feeling of drowsiness, where he had wanted to fall asleep, but just couldn't. The lack of a sense of time, which made minutes feel like hours.

He didn't want to upset Alphonse with any of this. 

"I... I can't remember," he lied. “Just keep it well-hidden, okay?”

Ed frowned at his own words. His teacher would _kill_ them if she ever found out what had happened; that cranky Nidoqueen was - how would he put it? - _vehemently opposed_ to the military. She called herself a “Freemon”, and told them to never, ever, ever in a million years go anywhere near the military for any reason whatsoever. She warned them that they locked away their monsters when they weren’t needed in tiny little capsules that could fit into a human’s pocket, and so they came to be known as pocket monsters - Pokémon for short.

Back then, Ed hadn’t believed her. The idea of bigger-on-the-inside technology seemed to fly in the face of everything he knew about science, and he’d never _seen_ one of those capsules. Even now, he wasn’t entirely sure how they worked. Some called it “magic”, but _he_ knew there was no such thing; perhaps it was knowledge that was lost along with Xerxes.

Of course, when Ed had _joined_ the military, he’d learned that their teacher had been exaggerating. Pokémon weren’t kept in Pokéballs _all the time_ ; it was only when the higher-ups had decreed a state of emergency, which thankfully hadn’t happened to him yet. Not only that, but some Pokémon had reached high positions of authority, like that damn colonel.

Still, none of this meant that he liked it.

“I will,” replied Al. Ed could tell he was smiling; under that cold, metal exterior lay the kind heart of a Pichu.

**Author's Note:**

> 21/May/2019: I edited this a bit to make Ed more in-character.


End file.
